Abrading machine



Oct. '15, 1935. Y w, A, REED ABRADING MACHINE Filed Feb. 6, 1953 Patented Oct. 15, 1935 PATENT OFFICE 2,017,163 ABRADING mcnmn William A. Reed, Beverly, Mass., assignor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Paterson, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application February 6, 1933, Serial Nb. 655,304 2 Claims. (01. 51-492) This invention relates to abrading apparatus and is herein disclosed as embodied in a machine adapted to the scouring of shoe bottoms. It is desirable in this, and also in many other abrading 5 operations, to provide an abrading tool wherein the abrasive element is supported in such a manner as not only to enable it to exert a soft resilient action upon the work but also to enable it readily to be removed when worn and replaced by a fresh abrasive element.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved abrading tool of the type under consideration which will aflord the advantages above pointed out. In accordance with a feature of the invention, the abrasive element of the improved tool consists of a frusto-conical abrasive sleeve which is clamped at its end'portions to a rotary tool body, the tool body and the clamping means being constructed'and arranged to conform to the diameters of the end portions of the abrasive sleeve so that the abrasive sleeve may be applied to the rotary body by passing the larger end of the sleeve over the means for clamping the smaller end of the sleeve. In the illustrated construction the working surface of the abrasive sleeve is supported for yielding action upon the work by air pressure from within.

These and other features of the invention comprising various combinations and arrangements of parts will best be understood from the following description of a preferred embodiment of the invention, selected for purposes of illustration, and shown in the accompanying drawing, in which the figure is a view in perspective showing a longitudinal section of the machine.

Referring to the drawing, the supporting structure of the illustrated machine consists of a frame l6 adapted to be secured upon a work table or other suitable support and having a pair of upstanding bearing members I 2 and I4. Journaled in ball bearings I6 and I8 which are mounted in the bearing members I2 and I4, respectively, is a tubular shaft 20 having a central bore 22. Secured in the bearing member l2 and communicating with the bore 22 is a conduit 24 adapted for connection to a supply of air under suitable pressure. Pressures of from two to three pounds per square inch have given excellent results. An orifice 26 formed in the bearing member I 2 enables air from the conduit 24 to enter the bore 22. Leakage of air from the bearing member is prevented by packing material 28 surrounding the shaft 26 and compressed by a-bushing 30 threaded into the bearing member I 2 and surlfl rounding the shaft 23. Longitudinal movement of the shaft 20 isxprevented by a pair of thrust collars 32 and 34 secured to the shaft 20 and abutting respectively the bushing 30 and the bearing member l4. The shaft 26 is driven from any suitablesource of power by a belt 36 running 5 over a pulley 38 which is secured upon the shaft 20. As shown in the drawing, the shaft 20 extends'beyond its bearings and has an unsupported end 40. Between the unsupported end 40 I and the bearing member l4, and secured upon the 10 shaft 20, are a pair of abutment members .42 and 44, respectively, upon which is supported an abrasive sleeve of emery paper or other relatively flexible abrasive material 46. The sleeve may be formed by cementing the overlapping ends of 16 the sheet material, as indicated at 41. The abutments 42 and 44 are each provided with frustoconical surfaces 48 and 50, respectively, and the end portions of the abrasive sleeve 46 are crimped or molded so as to taper to a diameter less '20 than that of the adjacent body portions of the sleeve. Such crimping or molding may be facilit'ated'by forming V-shaped notches in the end portions of the sleeve. The reduced end portions of the sleeve 46 are clamped, by means 25 presently to be described, against the surfaces 48 and '56, respectively. Adjacent to the abutment 42 is a clamping collar 52 having a frustoconical surface substantially complemental to that of the surface 48. A nut 54, which is 30 threaded upon an elongated hub 56 of the abutment 42, urges the collar 52 into clamping engagement with the frusto-conical surface 46 so as to clamp an end portion of the abrasive sleeve 46 between the frusto-conical surfaces. The abutment 44 is provided with an elongated hub 58 upon which is threaded a nut 60 which urges a clamping collar 62 into clamping engagement with the opposite end of the abrasive sleeve 46,

the clamping collar 62 being similar to the clampo ing collar 52. The clamping collars 52 and 62 have their external diameters slightly less than the diameters of the abutments 42 and 44, respectively, so as to avoid contact with the work.

' In orderto facilitate the removal and renewal of the abrasive sleeve 46, this sleeveis-made frusto-conical. In a sleeve of about four inches in diameter, a difference of about one eighth of an inch between the diameters of the ends of the sleeve is suflicient. The diameters, furthermore, of the abutment 44 and of the clamping collar 62 are made smaller than the diameters of the abutment 42 and the clamping collar 52, respectively. The sleeve 46 may easily be applied bypassing its large end lengthwise over the abutment 44 and collar 62 and then clamping the large end of the sleeve 46 between the abutment 42 and the collar 52. In order to guide the large end of the abrasive sleeve over the abutment 42, this abutment is provided with a second frusto-conical surface 64. The reduced end portion of the sleeve, in

passing over the coned surface 64, will first yield and expand, and will then contract by reason of its inherent resilience, such contraction enabling it to pass within the clamping member 52 which, as above'stated, has a diameter slightly less than that of the abutment 42. As is shown in the drawing, the frusto-conical surfaces 64 and 48 are substantially coaxial with the shaft 20 and have a common base from which each surface tapers to a base of smaller diameter. It will also be noted' in the illustrated machine that the frusto-conical surface 64 has its larger end placed further from the free end 40 of the shaft 20 than its smaller end. The bore 22 does not extend all the way to the free end 40 of the shaft 20. In order to provide communication between the bore 22 and the space within the sleeve 46, openings 66 are formed in the wall of the shaft 20. It will be noted that the abutments 42 and 44 are in themselves impervious to air and that the only loss of pressure of the air will be that which results from the slight leakage through the sleeve.

In the construction above mentioned, the abutments 42 and 44 are preferably of metal and can be turned very accurately to a circular periphery. These abutments, together with the clamping collars, thus serve to hold the abrasive cover 46 accurately in true and, inasmuch as they are not subject to deformation by packing down, by wear, or by changes in atmospheric condition, as in case of cushions composed of yieldable solid material, no subsequent truing-up operation is necessary. It will be noted, furthermore, that the mass of yieldable rotating material hasbeen reduced to a minimum, namely, the material of the abrasive sleeve itself. The absence of an additional mass of backing material avoids any unbalancing efiect which results from the unequal distribution of mass or pressure, either of solid yieldable material or of an inflated cushion.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. An abrading tool comprising a rotary body for supporting a frusto-conical abrasive sleeve,

, and means for clamping the end portions respectively of the abrasive sleeve to said rotary body, said rotary body and said clamping means being constructed and arranged to conform to the diameters of the end portions of the abrasive sleeve and to enable the abrasive sleeve to be applied to the rotary body by passing the larger end of the sleeve over the means for clamping the smaller end of the sleeve.

2. An abrading tool comprising a frusto-conical abrasive sleeve, a shaft, a pair of circular abutments secured to said shaft and spaced from each other along the length of the shaft, said abutments having greater and less diameters substantially equal, respectively, to the internal diameters of the end, portions of the abrasive sleeve, and a pair of clamping collars having greater and less diameters and in cooperative relation to said abutments respectively for clamping the en of said abrasive sleeve to said abutments respec vely, whereby said abrasive sleeve may be mounted upon said abutments by passing the large end of the abrasive sleeve over the abutment and the clamping collar of less diameters.

WILLIAM A. REED. 

